Sam: Zumbara
'What is it?' Zumbara is an innovative Turkish social network site where time is the currency instead of money. The Zumbara community share their skills and experiences with one another in exchange for time credit. The basic principle is simple: “Help someone for 1 hour. Earn 1 hour in exchange.” The skill set of Zumbara users is endless offering anything from piano lessons, to collaborating on plays, to CV building. The website has drawn more than 15,000 users and over 1,000 hours of services are exchanged monthly. By combining the power of social network (joining, sharing, contributing) and the time bank system, Zumbara is an alternative sharing economy fostering social change. 'The Concept of Time Banking' Time Banking is a social innovation system which was developed during the 1980's that uses units of time as the currency. It is an up-and-coming service exchange system where a person's labour is rewarded with "time units." The equivalent amount of units that are given can then be withdrawn and used for a service of your choice. All services and time are equally evaluated meaning no one's talent or time is worth more than another's. The time banking system was developed to increase social capital by focusing on the value of an individual, rather than the value of a hard currency. Since its development Time Banking has been used by many communities to forge stronger intra-community connections, trust and promote education. Due to the economic slowdown more timebanks were established and today, 26 countries have active Time Banks and more appear to be joining the movement! North America In the United States there are over 276 Time Banks. "Time Banks USA," is located in Washington D.C and is the hub for nation wide network of Time Banks. The organization collaborates with other Time Banks and offers training and support to organizations and communities wishing to implement the system. The concept of Time Banking has not yet fully reached Canada. Although there are smaller start-ups embracing this system it has not achieved the popularity visible in Europe and the U.S. 'How Does it Work?' Zumbara operates like most other social media websites, incorporating user profiles, tagging, notifications, inbox messaging and "liking." Once you have registered for the site you are prompted to create your personal user profile. You are asked to fill in the services you can offer as well as the services you are interested in receiving. Requests After you have created your profile you are free to browse the services other people are offering. The services all fall under certain categories and are associated with certain tags such as "language", making it easier to find what you are interested in. When you find a service you wish to participate in, you message the person to book their service. Zumbara makes it clear that in the case that some services have material costs (supplies) that these costs are paid by the service receiver. Offers When making an offer of your services you must give a description of what it is that you are offering, what your experience level is, your availaiblity as well as the location of your offer (online or offline). Once services have been exchanged, the payee has three days to pay the person in "time units" for their services. You can use your time credit whichever way you want, inlcuding gifting your time credit to a friend, group or NGO. The only rule is you cannot use more hours than you have given! Funding It is unclear how Zumbara makes money for programming or how they were able to purchase a building. The website's only acknowledgement about funding states in the "Our Story" section that, "except programming, for the past two years until July 2011, no professional services (Money) were used for Zumbara." The lack of transparency raises many questions about how Zumbara financially operates. 'Trust and Regulating the System' Zumbara uses a variety of systems to create an environment of trust among its users. Before participating in a service exchange, Zumbara urges all their users to carefully read that person's Zumbara profile. Profiles publicly display the amount of hours a person has shared/received as well as their evaluation from other members. Furthermore, to ensure all their users have a safe and enjoyable experience, Zumbara offers the option to meet at their building located in Tunel, Taksim. It is a neutral and common ground where members can meet and use the rooms, furniture, supplies etc to exchange services. It is unclear whether Zumbara's small team has someone patrolling the website and regulating the services being offered. The platform depends greatly on it's users active participation in regulating a safe community. Zumbara encourages their members to evaluate and report any disturbing service or profile. 'Zumbara: On the Forefront of Social Capitalism Through Social Media' Zumbara hopes to enhance social capitalism through the social media platform and by doing so create community spirit. They believe their website creates relationships, reciprocity, and trust between persons. Their P2P platform promotes more humanistic and participatory values through their egalitarian system. In a world driven by money and personal gain, Zumbara creates a world where everyone is an asset and where some work is beyond monetary price References http://www.zumbara.com/en http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_banking http://p2pfoundation.net/Zumbara http://timebankingndg.wordpress.com/about-2/ http://globalsiteplans.com/branding/time-for-good-a-humanitarian-social-platform-in-istanbul-turkey/ http://timebanks.org/